Mind Training, 2011, part 1

We should meditate for one or two minutes to generate the motivation to listen to these teachings of the three principal aspects of the path, are the very essence of the Mahāyāna. It is in dependence on the motivation that deeds become virtuous or non virtuous and lead either to mental happiness or to mental suffering. What is meant here by motivation? What is meant by motivation is that motivation which realizes that we ourselves are single, alone, and others are numberless and vast space in their amount. In reflecting on this, in turn, one understands that there is no difference between ourselves and others in as much as they, as much as ourselves, wish only happiness and wish only to be separated from suffering, but they do not understand how to do this.

How sad. And therefore, we ourselves, who understand this, must lead them to that state of unalloyed bliss, that at present we are unable to do so and therefore we strive for a state in which all thoughts are eliminated and all qualities are actualized to lead all other beings to this state. Ārya Candrakīrti in a famous quote indicates the importance of generating the appropriate motivation and this is the shared teaching of all of the Tibetan gurus. Probably the Tibetan masters in their majority teach that this is essential. And the first verse of this quote of Candrakīrti reads, for one who has freedom.

Now, in this context freedom or autonomy refers to one’s having attained a human rebirth in which the practice of Dharma is possible, and in this state we are free. We are free whether we practice Dharma or not. We are free in the Dharma we choose to practice. It can be the Buddhist Dharma. It can be, within the Buddhist Dharma,, the Hīnayāna or the Mahāyāna.

Within the Mahāyāna, we are free to practice either meditations on the four seals, such as meditating on the fact that all composite phenomena are impermanent and so forth. In this matter, we have complete freedom. So it is up to us to investigate the Dharma we want to practice, and choose a Dharma which is worthy, beneficial, and which we enjoy, and then it is up to us to practice it. The second verse of this quote, it refers to one who dwells in favorable circumstances. Favorable circumstances refers to someone who is free of all interfering conditions, and who has all favorable circumstances.

It is in dependence on the fact that one is free of interfering conditions, and has all favorable circumstances, that one is able to practice and realize the Dharma in as much as one has enthusiasm and puts effort. In this condition in which we have favorable conditions and we are bereft of interfering factors is a condition which enables us to practice as we choose, either from the standpoint of Dharma, to practice Dharma, or from the standpoint of worldly affairs, to practice worldly affairs. In either case, we will attain our goals because we have more favorable conditions and the interferences are eliminated. This amounts to having power or autonomy. And at present, we have the most remarkable situation because we have all the conditions to practice and there are no interferences. This is a perfect state of affairs, and it is entirely up to us whether in dependence on this in future lives will give rise to a precious human rebirth, to the state of liberation, or to the state of full omniscience.

This, however, can only occur in dependence on enthusiasm, effort and a pure motivation. Otherwise, it will not happen. And therefore, we ourselves must examine very carefully how we can generate our own happiness. In keeping with the quote, in dependence on non virtue, one will abide in the lower realms until the non virtue itself is exhausted. So at present, in this life and in future lives, when we have dependence, when we have freedom, if we do not fulfill our own welfare, our own happiness, these lives will have gone to waste.

And in past lives, as well as in the present life, we have accumulated a large amount of non virtue. This non virtue has a potential to cast us in into the abyss of the lower realms, in which we will dwell for countless lives. Once we have been cast to the power of karma and affliction in these lower realms and are tormented there, there will be no friend, there will be no one to help us to find a way out from the abyss of the lower realms. And we will dwell there for millions of human lives until the karma which has cast us there has completed, until the effect of this karma has reached its fruition. It is not the case that one stays in the lower realms for a finite amount of time as with the human rebirth, one stays there until the karma impelling us has reached its fruition.

Therefore, at present, where we have the possibility, we should strive to find the means for liberation. Because once we have fallen in the lower realms, there will be no possibility to find this. Therefore, we ourselves, while we have this autonomy, must put effort. It is only when one has attained the state of an Arhat that one can choose where one is. At present we do not have that autonomy.

As Śāntideva said, it is in dependence on the good we have done that good results will accrue, and in dependence on the bad we have done that evil results will accrue. And, last time, Rinpoche explained verse 4.1 on page two of your handout, stanza 4.1, without pure definite emergence, there is no means to pacify the striving for the happy fruits of the ocean of existence, inasmuch as the embodied are totally fettered by the desire for existence, initially you will search for definite emergence. Pabongka Rinpoche in his commentary points out that initially to attain liberation from cyclic existence, one must generate the mind which wishes for liberation. The mind striving for liberation. There are definite advantages to generating this mind and powerful disadvantages to not generating it.

If such a mind is not generated, specifically, we will have desire for the marvels of cyclic existence. The marvels of cyclic existence refer to the results of contaminated virtuous karma, such as a fine body, wealth, good food, a good abode, friends, and so forth. These are all the results or the fruits of virtuous contaminated karma, and in dependence on the desire which arises for these, we will never experience liberation from cyclic existence. So, to give an example, should one commit a crime, it might be killing someone, it might be theft, or it might be sexual depravity, then as a result of these deeds, one will be cast in jail, and in function of the crime, the punishment will be more or less severe. Now, if the criminal who is in jail has the wish to escape from jail, then the possibility for escape is open.

If on the other hand, he thinks this is the coziest place ever, then he will never escape. And, therefore, through generating a wish to escape from cyclic existence, which sees the force of cyclic existence and to see cyclic existence in the same way as one sees the force of a jail, slowly over time, one can escape from cyclic existence. And, therefore, if we wish to be freed from cyclic existence, we must first understand that which we wish to be freed from. In other words, we must understand what cyclic existence is. If we do not understand what cyclic existence is, it is impossible to give rise to the wish to be freed from this.

So initially, one must understand what is cyclic existence, specifically one must understand the mode of dwelling in cyclic existence, and the mode of circumambulating or migrating within cyclic existence. Now, what is cyclic existence? cyclic existence is taking over and again the continuum of contaminated aggregates which are the result of the substantial cause, and the condition of contaminated deeds. So here, contaminated deeds refers specifically to afflictions. The term contaminated refers to afflictions, therefore deeds committed with afflictions.

Whereas, again and again taking this continuum refers to the process of again and again taking this continuum of the aggregates, uninterruptedly. And here it is important to understand what binds to cyclic existence. What binds to cyclic existence is karma and afflictions, and what is bound to cyclic existence. What is bound to cyclic existence are the aggregates, which are the substantial cause. In turn, one must understand how liberation from cyclic existence occurs.

Liberation from cyclic existence occurs through understanding cyclic existence as of the nature of suffering, and generating the wish for definite emergence or renunciation, which wishes to be freed from this. So, in cyclic existence, over and again, one takes these aggregates, and these aggregates last for as long as the karma impelling them is present. When the karma is exhausted, one dies. Then one takes upon a new set of aggregates under the influence of new karma, and when this karma is exhausted, one dies again. One then takes a new set of aggregates, this lasts for a time and one dies yet again.

We ourselves have obtained a human body as a result of contaminated virtuous action. Actions, in other words, which have been accrued under the power of karma and affliction. When the karma which has impelled this life of ours is exhausted, we will die. It is not the case that at this point we will disappear or become extinguished, instead we will experience a new set of aggregates. For instance, at present we are in Australia, After our death, we may be reborn in Tibet.

Our aggregates may be reborn in Tibet. Then after this, we may be reborn yet again in India, then in China, then in America. Then, so far we have been impaired by contaminated virtuous karma, as a result of non virtuous karma, we may be reborn in the hell realms. Then after that, we take the aggregate of a preta, a hungry ghost. Then after that, we may be reborn as an animal.

And we circle in this way in the six realms of cyclic existence. The three lower realms, the hell realm, the realm of the hungry ghosts, the animal realm, and the three higher realms, the realm of the human beings, of demigods, and gods. So this is what is meant by cyclic existence. These aggregates, which are taken under the power of karma and delusion, are purely of the nature of suffering. And therefore, Rinpoche would like to give an example of this.

If you look while Rinpoche was showing this, Rinpoche’s two fingers symbolize respectively the body to which one is bound in a given life, and the person. That which does the binding are karma and afflictions. So the person is bound to a body in a given life by karma and afflictions. For instance, if one is born in Australia, this birth occurs through the power of karma and afflictions, and one is bound to this Australian body for as long as the karma lasts. At a certain point the karma is exhausted.

At this point the fetters are loosened and the person moves on. The person moves on to another body, for instance in Tibet, where once again they are bound by karma and afflictions, until the karma is exhausted, at which points the fetters are loosened and the person moves on to yet another rebirth, in India where they are once again bound by karma and afflictions. And this continues as long as karma and afflictions are present in their mind. Now generally speaking, all lives in cyclic existence are of the nature of suffering. All are pervaded by the three sufferings, the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and all pervasive suffering.

However, the degree of suffering in the lower realms is far greater than that in the higher realms. It’s inconceivably greater. Another simile for cyclic existence would be a driver who changes cars. He drives for a bit in one car, steps out of the car, and moves to another car and drives on. The car is the body, the driver is a person which has just changed lives.

And here, one could say that cyclic existence is simply the bodies to which the person is bound. So cyclic existence is the state and that which is bound, the prisoner, is the person. Then the sufferings which are experienced are the sufferings of the body. We ourselves know we experience sufferings within our body, toothache, headache, stomachache, cancer, and so forth. The type of suffering you experience are contingent on the body taken.

For instance, if one is reborn as a human being, one has human sufferings. If one is reborn as a dog, one has canine sufferings. If one is reborn as a horse, one has equine sufferings. If one is reborn in the hell realms, one has a sufferings of a hell being. And therefore, liberation means to destroy the fetter of our body, to abandon the body which is accumulated through contaminated karma.

Once this body is destroyed, we have attained liberation. So, if we look once again at the example Rinpoche gave of a person who is bound to their body, then this person is bound to the body by the fetter of karma and afflictions. Liberation means to cut through this fetter, to sever it. Once it is severed, the body remains behind, it is left to waste, and the person is free. This is liberation.

To attain liberation, first one must want to attain liberation, one must want to sever this bond of karma and afflictions which ties a person to the body, and for this one must understand the faults of the body, one must see the defects of the body, specifically one must see the body as of the nature of suffering and as impermanent. And to understanding the defects of the body, and the fact that we are taking this body over and again, the wish to be free arises. The wish to be free then must be actualized. To cut the fetters which bind the person to the body, one needs the three trainings. One needs the training in wisdom, one needs the training in concentration, and one needs their foundation, the training in ethics.

So ethics might be the ethics or the vows of a lay person, or the vows of a member of the Sangha, and in dependence on this, concentration, in this case calm abiding, is generated, and with calm abiding in turn one generates the wisdom of insight, which is alone able to cut through the fetters of cyclic existence. Once this has been done, the body is abandoned and left behind, and the person is free. So, if one does not generate renunciation, then one will have attachment to the body. It is crucial therefore to generate a mind which sees the force of the body, which sees specifically that the body is not clean, whereas we think it is clean, which does not see the body as permanent, whereas we think it is permanent, which sees the body as not happy, whereas we think it is happy, which sees the body as not truly established, whereas we see it as truly established. Once one has eliminated these four wrong views of the body, one is able to give rise to renunciation.

And therefore, the beings of small, middling, and greater scope practice this renunciation of the body in different ways. A being of the small scope is one who is fully aware of the faults of rebirths or rebirths in the lower realms, and understands that not only is the practice of Dharma necessary, but it is also possible for him or her. He or she then meditates on the difficulty in obtaining a precious human rebirth, and understands clearly the faults of not practicing Dharma, and the advantages of practicing Dharma. In turn, in dependence on meditating on a precious human rebirth, he or she meditates on impermanence and understands that not only is practice necessary, but that practice is necessary now. And in dependence on this great energy and force in the practice is generated.

The practice is no longer deferred and procrastination is abandoned. One has to understand that once this body of ours has been left behind, there is for us probably no future Dharma practice. And understanding this and reflecting on the fact that at the time of death, our wealth, our money, our possessions are of no benefit, our friends, our relatives are of no benefit, and our very body is completely useless, we generate the strong wish to practice the Dharma. In our case, we have been accumulating since beginningless time, gigantic amounts of non virtue, and the virtue we have accumulated is infinitesimal. To be reborn, to actually practice Dharma, it is necessary to be reborn in the higher realms.

It is impossible to practice Dharma in the lower realms. And even if one is reborn in the higher realms, let us ask ourselves in this world of ours with 6,000,000,000 human beings, how many practice the Dharma? Perhaps 1,000,000. So as Nāgārjuna said, non virtue is only the cause for suffering, and from virtue happiness alone arises. The Buddha himself has prophesied that those who fall from the higher realms to the lower realms, and those who remaining in the lower realms are reborn again in the lower realms, will be as numerous as the particles in the great earth.

Rinpoche suggests that you reflect how many atoms there may be in the surface of Australia. On the other hand, those who are reborn within the higher realms, or those who are born from the lower realms into the higher realms, are as rare as a number of particles of earth on the Buddha’s thumb. Most of us therefore, will definitely be reborn in the lower realms. There is a specific prophecy of the Buddha with regard to this. In generating this strong fear of the lower realms, in turn, we can then go for refuge.

We can abandon non virtue and practice virtue, and behaving in this way eliminate the possibility of being reborn in the lower realms. So our tragedy is that we do not fear the lower realms. So, what is renunciation? Renunciation is that mind which sees all of the bodies of the six realms of cyclic existence as of the nature of a suffering akin to that of being in a blazing fire, and wishing to be freed from that, such a mind strives for liberation from cyclic existence. Okay.

Rinpoche will stop here for today. He will take one question if you have questions. So, the difference between these two wrong views of the body is the following. The view of permanence is the idea that the body is unchanging.

In other words, that our body this morning and our body tonight are the same. This is completely wrong. Our body is disintegrating instant by instant, hour by hour, the same way as a watch shows the passage of time. Our body this morning and our body this evening are different, for that matter our body at present in the temple, and the body in a couple of minutes when we leave the temple are completely different. These are different bodies.

So this is what is meant by the mistaken view of permanence, this mistaken view that the body is permanent. As to the view, mistaken view of the true existence of the body, the fourth of these. It is the view that the body is an autonomous, or that the person is an autonomous substantial existent, and that the body therefore by extension is an autonomous substantial existent. This is the wrong view that the body, its shape, its color, and so forth, exist by their own power. They exist autonomously from their own side.

This is not the case, because they are dependent arising. However, this view sees them as existing independently without depending on anything, as being truly established, as being self established. The non existence of this state of affairs is what is understood as the selflessness of persons of the body. Therefore, the continuum of the aggregates, that I which is seen as not being comprised within the continuum of the aggregates, is that which is asserted as non existent. Then the view, the mistaken view of the cleanliness of the body is the view that this body is clean and beautiful, whereas in fact this body is the filthy product of the semen of the father and the egg of the mother.

That in turn is the product of the semen of their parents and the eggs of their mothers. This, for as far back in time as cyclic existence, has been in existence. And finally, the mistaken view that the body is a source of happiness. The body arises as the result of contaminated karma and afflictions. Now, this by definition is suffering, so the body is of the nature of suffering.

For today. Page nine. Eight b. And once again, for those of you who wish to suffer, we are organizing an intensive classical Tibetan in January. The teacher is reputed as intransigent but the results are obtained.

So, if you’re interested, the registration form is on the desk with Carol. All the best.